


The Dragons, The Serpent & The Phoenixes

by insomniacOlympian



Category: Christian Bible, Christian Bible (New Testament), Christian Bible (Old Testament), Original Work, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, Allegory, Ancient History, Animal Metaphors, Creation Myth, Earth, Extended Metaphors, Gen, Historical Metaphors, Humanity, Math and Science Metaphors, Metaphors, Oral History, POV Third Person Omniscient, Religion, Religious Imagery & Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27160864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insomniacOlympian/pseuds/insomniacOlympian
Summary: an admiring alien discusses a species that they're enamored with: descendants of the "proto-reptiles," the mammals known as "Humans."partially inspired by Dougal Dixons "Man After Man" when it comes to the alien POV on Earth & Humanity.
Kudos: 1





	The Dragons, The Serpent & The Phoenixes

There was a species that came to call itself Humans which had evolved on a planet they ended up calling Earth. 

Previously, they'd called themselves Mankind - "Man" being a gender & sex. [They're one of the species with those. If you don't know what either is, bless you. Look it up, though - fascinating stuff!] With "Wo-Man" as well though, more and more recognized the term ''Humankind'' as more accurate. ''History isn't His-story.'' was a rallying cry.

Speaking of, as with almost all thinking beings in the Universe, Humans were the culmination of billions of years of stellar evolution & millions of years of biological evolution and this meant that like many species, the brains of their ancestors own very distant ancestors had gone through multiple stages before the first modern Humans came unto the scene on the continent they developed in first - a remnant of the brain of each long-term, evolutionary generation staying in the brains of the next one, until the time where we all know generations means something very different. 

What we’ll call the insect brain includes basic things like the body staying maintained, movement and most importantly, urges like the need to eat, drink, stay alive & to breed- without any thought or feeling to it. 

They are automatic for insects & higher animals but only drives for Humans, that can be ignored until the point their body absolutely needs these things to survive. 

Most animate species can relate, goes without saying. 

Although one of lifes most enduring qualitys is its need to sustain itself I'd say that's superseded just by its ability to- especially since some would say at all that's something which must be done at all costs. They're the ones who I'd really say would be wrong and I’ll prove why here, with the Human Race as an example.

The next stage would be a far more infamous one to them - like most species, the closer related you are to them, the fonder they are of you - 

(A trait with all Humans, although with many the opposite is true as well - the more distantly related, the fonder they are of you. One of Humankinds most enduring qualities, I'd say.) 

The reptile brain or as you might call it, the lizard brain - technically the hind brain, which is simply called "the reptile brain" as they're some of the first type of Earth creatures to have it, which carried all the way until the evolution of Humans. 

It has everything that’s in the insect brain, of course - & more. 

Not thought or feelings as we or even Humans would understand them but the ability to make basic choices on what instincts to act on instead of being a vessel for them- a good comparison would be a toddler in comparison to an infant.

Not conscious yet but not just animated - instinctual.  
The third stage would be what some Humans called the mammalian brain- although this is inaccurate because the Earth animals known as birds & outliers of other types had evolved to this point as well - but Humans didn’t evolve from birds, so their feathered friends weren't the obvious choice. 

Either way, there’s everything that’s been in the last two stages but by now, basic feelings as well as memory has entered the mixture as well. 

If you tell me that you don’t think cats or dogs don’t have feelings, I don’t know what to tell you.

Anyone whose planet has companion animals knows this fact. 

Play with one of them, look them in the eyes and tell me that you don’t think they do. 

Think about the fact that animals at this stage of development are able to retain information even if they don’t have actual memories- dogs will stay around people that treat them well and avoid ones that don’t and use their senses to tell which is which. 

After that, the next stage would be what I’d call the primate brain. 

At this point, feelings are not only in the mixture but thoughts are there as well - more importantly, the two are connected with each other. 

While monkeys don’t have self awareness, they feel for one another and think about things in a primitive sort of way. 

They not only retain information from their own lives like dogs & cats but pass down information to the lives of those in the next generation- snow monkeys know that they can clean themselves in hot springs and all kinds of species use tools & various tricks. 

It’s still only automatic but they know things, even if they don’t know why they know them.

The second to last stage being apes - where basic self awareness exists, just without complicated language & so on. Sapience. 

Dolphins, elephants & whales are the 3 other species of animal here; anyone whose planet has near sentients will know how Humans feel about those, often moreso then for their own primitive cousins. 

A few %'s worth of difference in DNA & you have the brains of those who Humans themselves would consider "prehistoric'' all the way through to the modern individuals we know across the ''Orion'' Arm of The Galaxy. 

We all know what a sentient being is. Thoughts & feelings not only exist, they not only are connected to each other but individuals are aware of that fact- and that what they're feeling is their own thoughts & feelings. That other individuals have their own, unique thoughts and feelings.

Humans are able to look in a mirror and recognize that they are looking at themselves, an individual like the ones around it - unlike apes, they also realize the gravity & significance of that fact. 

They can conceptualize it. 

They can look at other Humans and recognize the fact that they are looking at someone like themselves & something like themselves. 

It’s one of the greatest gifts that "God" or the Gods have given us and while many of us are obsessed with ideas about consciousness, most of us don’t think about consciousness itself often enough as a start for that, ironically. 

We undervalue our own ability to value anything at all. 

This not only disrespects ourselves but also leads to the point of this parable. 

==============================================

Throughout their history, Humans have developed stories about reptilian or birdlike monsters & Gods, especially snakes. 

Lifes most enduring quality is its need to sustain itself.

Nagas, the creatures in Cambodian mythology with the lower body of a snake (a reptile) and the upper body of a Human. 

Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent (another reptile) of the Aztecs, the God of knowledge & wisdom- of storms and of their winds. 

Ra, the god of all other Gods in the Egyptian pantheon, all that they controlled and of the Sun itself - the star planet Earth goes around - represented with the head of a falcon. A bird. 

Ouroboros- the ancient symbol of a serpent swallowing its own tail, representing infinity and the infinite cycle of birth and death. 

Medusa, the woman with hair made out of serpents (more snakes)- while her eyes do nothing to you? theirs can freeze you in place. 

Have fun trying to talk face to face with her. 

Most recently, there has been the idea of a species of Humanoid reptiles that control Human affairs, usually from underground.

let’s look at the basic idea- reptiles that disguise themselves as Humans but even without their disguise, still have the same body type. The same morphology. 

Going a bit more metaphorically here for a moment, there are dragons- a type of mythological animal that has developed seperately in not only all of the cultures I mentioned but every area of Earth. Even if it's not considered a dragon by modern standards, it may match the basic profile. 

[Something which has fascinated me ever since I realized it.]

Despite the fact none of these people had ever met each other, they all came up with the same idea separately- even if the details of what dragons are like differ, there are still common qualities. 

Proud- whether in a detached and humbling way in the vein of some dragons in Asia or in a terrifying way, in the vein of dragon myths in Europe. 

Great and terrible. Defensive of themselves and of those like them. 

Willing to bring great wrath to anything that would harm either.

If I haven’t made it blindingly obvious by now, the point I’m trying to make is that the reptile brain and the instincts associated with it and its predecessor, the insect brain, still very much control actions- which is kind of a no-brainer in more ways then one- but.. in addition to the brain of the stage of evolution our brains are in now.

.. both to itself and with the fact those last stages are still in there.

Not only that but we all subconsciously and intuitively know this and it shows up in the culture of the Humans time and time again, with reptilian creatures being depicted as both horrifying & amazing. 

There’s a reason their children have a dull fascination with bugs & reptiles, especially lizards, which some people keep even as they grow older. 

They're simple, living things. They're fucking cool & they're cute and they are neat. 

"Why other mammals bring out such raw feelings of love in us.

Why monkeys amuse us so & why apes do that & get our sympathy - like all other primates, all other mammals & all other animals but the most out of any of them."

[Except maybe for Elephants & Lions, Cats & Dogs - but hey.] 

Humans are able to look in a mirror and recognize that they are looking at themselves.

They can look at other animals and recognize the fact that they are looking at something like themselves- or for the purpose of the point I’m trying to make, someone like themselves. 

Despite this fact, the most infamous example of all cultural myths for how much it spread when it comes to reptiles specifically is of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden- who tempts Adam and Eve into falling from grace.  
God made them aware of the Tree of Knowledge and it didn’t interest them- it was the Serpent who actually gave them the idea to eat fruit from the tree. 

An animal that we usually associate with lies & trickery, deceit and backstabbing and treachery & guile -despite the fact that real ones aren’t even able to have thoughts like that- only we are.

We only associate these things with Snakes because they have a venomous bite & we only associate bad people with Snakes because -- 

\-- Humans created the myth of a Snake that tempted them into falling from grace- and how does it happen? 

''The Serpent said to the woman, “you will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

This becomes original sin, which is the stated reason why Humanity - both Isrealite & Gentile - need God in the Old Testament -

(until, for those of you who believe this, Jesus dies for that sin & all sinning in the New Testament, to give us a chance to be redeemed through him -) to redeem us, instead of just being able to be with God in harmony already. 

In the story, the Serpent was in the wrong here.

Was he wrong if you read it as a Human story & not a book, though? 

No, he wasn’t. 

His statement was deceitful because he didn’t mention the consequences but that’s all it was- a statement. 

Simply an objective fact, without any Good or Evil to it either. 

This is something that not even the writers of the original Old Testament, allegedly the Word of God himself, would argue with. 

It’s Adam & Eve who hide from God afterwards.

It’s God who is angry with them for disobeying.

It’s Eve who admits to him that the Serpent tricked her and she ate- 

yet even with her honesty, she is punished more severely then Adam, which doesn't match God's stated MO in either Bible. 

Adam, who lies and lays blame, saying that she gave him the fruit and he ate it. 

This is technically true but ignores the fact that he choose to eat it with her. 

While she listened to the Serpent and he listened to her, he is the one acting far more like a snake. 

It’s God who chooses to believe Adam here- despite being God itself - omniscient and omnipresent. 

It’s God who decides to cast the two of them out, despite the fact the creature that deceived them is a creation of his too and despite the fact that by the Bibles own logic, without eating the Fruit, they weren’t even aware of the fact that what they were doing was wrong.

[He being a creation of priests trying to explain creation, also gives Humans fertility cycles at this point as a form of punishment. Before then, apparently Eve (or any woman) never had a single period.] 

There is no punishment for the Snake from God- the idea that he was the Devil was only added to the Bible later. 

If you go back enough, God actually chose to have the Snake act on his behest to test Humanity with the Temptation anyway, to see if they were worthy yet. 

Speaking of, there is the myth of the Devil himself, who in the New Testament will not show up as some scary and humanoid, horned entity who is in charge of our punishment. 

No, in the New Testament it is said he will come to Earth as an enormous Dragon until he is defeated by the forces of good and cast back down into Hell- to stay there until the end of time itself. 

Reptiles as evil. 

More importantly, reptiles associated with temptation- yet with everything else I’ve mentioned I believe. 

I feel that it comes down to this. 

Humans recognize their own animal nature and both respect and fear it and what it can do, despite the fact it’s the very fuel for those thoughts. 

We are terrified of the possibility of hurting others and rightly so but we’re also terrified that stepping into our own shoes will do so, despite the fact these bare fears without being recognized, lead to the very atrocities we fear causing. 

Evil people will destroy others without feeling a single thing. Serial killers. Think they feel that same fear for anyone but themselves? 

An example on the other end of the coin - drunk drivers. 

Misguided people destroy others and then torment  
themselves for the rest of their lives about how to make it up, even and especially if there’s no way to do so. 

Even if contacting the person they hurt would just hurt that person more, they still want to.

If only to try & make it alright through apologies & words, if nothing else. 

It’s because we think of ourselves and only ourselves as Snakes, stuck on the ground and ready to bite- despite the fact that I at least - think that even snakelike people aren't Snakes. 

I think that we're all Feathered Serpents - Dragons who are ready to spread their wings and fly, and I think that that - isn’t a good or a bad thing at all.

Or at least it doesn't have to be. 

===================== 

How does all of that make you feel? 

What does it make you think of?


End file.
